Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I had never heard of the show Kyle XY until just recently. The tv series, Kyle XY, a teen boy is found naked in the forest near a juvenile detention center. He has no recollection of who he is or how he got there. The show basically seeks out the truth about who he is, where he is from, and the strange things that revolve around Kyle.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Today I learned of a link to a "Police Blotter" where law enforcement are going after and prosecuting teenagers who take risque or inappropriate photos of themselves.

In January of this year, the Florida State of Appeals court upheld convictions of a girl they prosecuted for producting a photograph of her boy friend. The couple, for fun, took nude photogrphas of themselves. They never sent them or transmitted them to anyone, yet somehow local law enforcement got a hold of them and prosecuted the teen couple.

Though I could not find how long either were sentenced, I feel this is just another instance where law enforcement is going too far, and how our society has created such a taboo on teenage sex.

Now don't get me wrong, I feel sexual predators should be put away, or at least sent somewhere to get treatment, but this instance the law has gone too far.

Just how far is the law going? Well, today, a friend of mine name Noah, got called to the principals office and when he arrived found his principal, parents and law enforcement waiting for him. This new police sting operation found Noah's blog and found his profile "too revealing and inappropriate for a teenager". His profile picture is of him kneeling in his wrestling sniglet after a wrestling match.

Noah wasn't charged, but he is suppose to remove his photo from his blog. He refused and his parents support him on his decision. You see, Noah is one of Ohio's best wrestlers and he is only a sophomore. He is proud of his accomplishments and published his wrestling photo to express his pride in his accomplishments.

Earlier this year, a local community banned teen males from swimming shirtless in the public swimming pool. Last year, another public pool banned speedos. And just recently a watchdog group began a push to make high school teen male swimmers to wear less revealing swim suits during competition. And just recently in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, a law was passed banning any male under the age of 18 from being shirtless in public!

Why is our country, which is suppose to promote all these freedoms and concern for personal rights, suddenly so restrictive?

Sure, I understand the issues especially with all these child abductions, child predators, and child abuse, but isn't there better ways to solve these problems instead of taking youth freedom and expression away?

Fact is teens will be teens. All these issues would be dealt with much better by education, not restrictions!

Personally, I'm really starting to hate America. We preach how great our country is because of freedom, but what freedom do we really have today? Now any of you watchdog groups or law enforcement who reads this, I am not a traitor, and my comment is not meant as treason. It is MY RIGHT to express myself regarding our country and our laws. I just think a lot of these new laws affecting teens are BULLSHIT. I will protest these laws, peacefully. That is also MY RIGHT.

And you know something else? These laws are a result of things adults do to children and teens, not what teens are doing with other teens! It is another case of our country blaming teen problems on us teens instead of focusing on the real problems created by adults who molest and sexually abuse children.

That show "To Catch A Predator" also really irks me. Sure, it makes me sick, those adults who prey on teens. Those people need HELP. So what does our country do? We lock them away instead of attempting to treat or rehabilitate them. And as a result of that show, now teens caught in adult chat rooms, or engaged in instant messages, are also being arrested and sent to juvenile facilities as sex offenders. Excuse me, but we are the victims in most cases, not the offenders!

In summary, the problem is simple, and blame should go to our parents. Most of us teens are left unsupervised and not being educated on the issues. So many households are two income families or single parent homes. Back in the 70's, parents talked to their children about sex, and what was right and what was wrong. There was open communication between teens and adults. Sex was not taboo. We need to get back to those days. Right now we are heading the wrong direction and if corrective measures are not taken soon, our so called freedom will keep eroding away to the point we will have no freedoms.